"Where has the money gone....Nobody knows, nobody knows".

 The International Coalition for Citizens in Distress (ICCID) was not heard of a few weeks ago. Yet its meeting in Oslo , Norway , last week was well attended. It was the latest vocal outfit of the International Community, raising its voice about the citizens of northern Sri Lanka .

The international media was in full attendance. The pre-meeting publicity did not reveal any connections with the pro-LTTE Diaspora that was making the arrangements and footing the bill. Norwegian leaders were billed to speak, and so were prominent HREs or Human Rights Extremists (to borrow a description from Michael Roberts) from other Western countries.

Vidar Vikingsson from Norway was at the Chair, being from the host country. His message was very short. "We must make our voices heard, loud, clear and very soon. There is no time to waste. There are more than 200,000 civilians trapped in the North of Sri Lanka. That figure must be drummed up. We must make the world bring pressure on Sri Lanka for a cease fire. The purpose of this meeting is to decide on a strategy to achieve that.  

Bruno Meddlemann we must bring all the pressure possible. I’m not bothered about those civilians any more. This is a matter of credibility for us. For our part we will try to get Chancellor Merkel to get the Foreign Office in Berlin to get the German Ambassador make some more noise in Colombo , although I don’t know how effective that will be. We are not happy with this situation at all. Even Berlin will start asking questions.

 Brother Bruno must not think I was concerned about the civilians either. It’s just that 200,000 or even higher is a good figure for our purposes. I think it is more than a matter of credibility. We will stand exposed and there could be other consequences, said Vidar Vikingsson.

Gajan Kannadien, of the Toronto Eelam Brotherhood said that time was running out for the Tigers fighters in Sri Lanka . "I hear terrible news each day. Bunkers are busted. Trenches are overrun; the mansions and luxury vehicles of the leaders are being captured and displayed. There is no time to spare…we must demand a ceasefire....I’m not bothered about any civilians trapped, whatever the number, they are collateral in the cause of Eelam ….we in Toronto must not lose our ability to raise funds in the future….That is our concern. There is so much to lose for us." 

Keith Kaasi-Britannick said the situation was very clear to him. "I have already raised the matter in the Labour Party; Gordon Brown fell for the ceasefire line. In fact he was about to despatch  Des Browne as Special Envoy to  negotiate or enforce a ceasefire but Colombo put up a stiff opposition. Not even the Daily Telegraph reminding the world that Sri Lanka was a former British colony helped. …..We must highlight the plight of the civilians…that’s the only card we have to hide the truth…..I’m worried about raising funds for my next election."

Jean-Paul Brosselle was with Thangavelu Pulidevan from the Eelam Quarter of Paris . "We have no time to waste," said Thangavelu, while Brosselle nodded in agreement. "It won’t take long for the whole racket to be exposed. How can we explain all this to the people who contributed to the Eelam cause? My worry is that we talk only of 200,000 civilians. Why not raise it to 500,000 to make the world sit up and take notice. The figure may be inflated, we all know that, but if we get a ceasefire, we can do some thing to cook the books, and ease the pressure that will be mounting on us at this end," he said.

"My friend is right, we won’t be able to raise funds for any of our pet human rights causes and our own purses if this is exposed" said Brosselle. "I always had my fears of something like this."

Helga Bernfrancen from Geneva looked and sounded most worried. "How can we expect the public to accept this in the midst of all this financial and comic turmoil in the west? I tell you this is real toxic for all of us, who have been pretending to speak for the international community. We will all look like those CEOs of US Banks who took the taxpayers money and then took huge bonuses and flew in private jets. Can’t we get Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and even the National Peace Council in Sri Lanka to help us out? This is terrible" she said wringing her hands in despair.

"Amnesty has lost all its clout with its nonsense about cluster bombs. I don’t think HRW will get involved now, after it was compelled to tell the truth that the LTTE was having human shields of civilians, without even consulting us…..the damn truth is that there is nothing to show for all the money that we gave the LTTE……not even one small welfare centre or hospital….or small library….." that was Vidar Vikingsson.

It was Gajan Kannadien who broke ominous silence that followed this admission. "I have an idea... last chance, no doubt, but it seems worth a try….why not sound India …."

""Come on, you expect India to help us who help the LTTE, after what happened in Mumbai…..

"No, no, I don’t mean New Delhi…why not link up with Tami Nadu and the DMK….I’m sure Karunanidhi will be needing funds for the coming elections… there is Ramadoss and Vaiko too. We can help them as we helped Prabhakaran all these years ….. after all it is the same cause. We line their pockets and also fill our own purses.. I see nothing wrong in that …….why not have a go at it….." said an eager and obviously desperate Gajan.

The meeting in Oslo ended. The international media was full of stories about more than 200,000 civilians caught in the cross-fire in the north of Sri Lanka . They all ignored the government’s figure of less than 120,000…its not possible to spoil a good story with the truth…..lies must be garnished with more lies and the INGO circuit is a ready supplier of lies.

The new born ICCID was getting plenty of coverage on network TV…..the story of the suffering 200,000 civilians was being picked up by every correspondent who could not get a visa to enter Sri Lanka and, and some journalists sought to justify the lie, because they could not get a visa……"Ceasefire…ceasefire" was the din in the media… "Save the civilians…..humanitarian crisis" was the rallying cry.

Up north in territory that had come under government control, there were no signs of any development done by the LTTE or the various civilian committees, INGOs, NGOs and international organizations that claimed they were pouring money for development work for the welfare of the Tamil people. The government was collecting photographs of signboards of developments projects in the midst of overgrown jungle….much concrete had gone to build the bunkers and luxury quarters of the LTTE leaders.

"Where has all the money gone….nobody knows, nobody knows

Where have all the INGOs gone, nobody knows, nobody knows…..